The Star Wars franchise has seen the release of many video games over the years alongside its prolific big and small screen output. While the games released under the Star Wars banner vary greatly in genre and style, Star Wars: The Old Republic stands alone as the only MMO in the franchise so far. Not only that, but it also takes place thousands of years before the majority of Star Wars stories. Both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic let players explore parts of the galaxy that other games, films, TV shows, and comics rarely cover, which opens the door to some fascinating narrative avenues.
BioWare's Star Wars-themed MMORPG initially garnered a monumental amount of interest and a record-breaking number of players in its first few weeks. While this did tail off over the following months, The Old Republic has maintained a dedicated player base and still continues to get expansion packs and new content over a decade after its release. For any players that haven't yet given it a try, The Old Republic is still worth playing (despite some controversy surrounding its latest expansion), especially for Star Wars fans that want to experience a new side to the galaxy they're already familiar with and fully immerse themselves in the world.
Introducing The World Of The Old Republic
The Old Republic takes players to a brief moment of fragile peace between the Galactic Republic Empire and the re-emergent Sith. Set three hundred years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic and around three and a half thousand years before the adventures of Luke Skywalker and his various companions, The Old Republic shows gamers a unique period of Star Wars history. While the battle between light versus dark, Sith versus Jedi is very familiar to Star Wars fans, The Old Republic explores these battles in new ways.
After a devastating war, the Jedi have withdrawn from Coruscant – the galaxy's capital – and have moved back to Tython, a planet in the Deep Core that saw the original founding of the Jedi Order. Blamed for the recent ascendency of the Sith, the Jedi are hoping to reconnect with the Force and gain answers to help them combat the growing Sith influence. A Sith Academy has also been re-established on the planet Korriban, and the Sith's presence is beginning to be felt in every corner of the galaxy.
Skirmishes continue to occur between the Jedi and Sith, even while an uneasy peace reigns and a cold war continues. The Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic struggle to maintain their influence and control over the core worlds, and all the while the Sith are plotting their revenge and planning to establish the Sith Empire. This conflict is felt across the galaxy, as different factions on various planets side with one group or the other.
Getting Into The Gameplay
-(1).jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
In keeping with The Old Republic's focus on Jedi versus Sith, players must choose which side they want to align themselves with at the start of the game. But this doesn't limit their characterization, as even a player that affiliates with the Galactic Republic can have a darkness to them, or a Sith Empire sympathizer can be surprisingly benevolent, thanks to the game's morality spectrum.
Players can also choose between a range of playable races, although some choices are limited to their faction. For example, Chiss, Rattataki, and Sith Purebloods are restricted to a Sith alignment, and the Miraluka and Mirialan can only be played by Republic-aligned gamers. Humans, human-based Cyborgs, Twi'lek, and Zabrak can be played by either side. Players also select a class for their character, including Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, and Sith Warrior. Like BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, each class has its own unique backstory with a subsequent branching narrative depending on player choice.
Gamers have their own class-specific starship as well which, serves as a base that they can return to in between missions and activities. Alongside this base of operations, players can recruit companions and assign them to perform certain tasks to help them gather resources or craft items while they are off on their adventures. Companions and other NPCs can be romanced, including same-sex relationships which really helped to broaden The Old Republic's appeal.
Tips For Beginners
Players should think carefully about their playstyle and what kind of skills they want to pursue when they're creating their character. As well as picking a race, class, and alignment at the start of The Old Republic, there are also advanced classes and a choice between Force Combat Styles and Tech Combat Style for non-Force users. By completing missions, exploring the various locations, and defeating enemies, players can advance their characters and unlock new skills as they level up. In addition to carefully crafting their character, gamers should pay attention to moral choices and dialogue options as well, as these can open or close various storylines depending on their character's alignment, and this can have an effect on companions.
Once the game gets underway, gamers may be raring to go and want to get exploring straight away. However, it's much better to play through the origin stories for the specific class that they've chosen. This helps them to not only get a better sense of the game, but these stories can be important throughout the rest of The Old Republic, and players might miss out on significant details or story beats.
Although it can be time-consuming, it's also important not to forget about upgrading gear. Companions no longer need to be kitted out with new gear and will scale automatically alongside the protagonist, but paying attention to the player's own armor sets and items should be a regular concern. Crafting can be a big part of The Old Republic as well, and while this can help players get better gear, they should save their materials until they're at a higher level so that the process is truly worth it.
The Old Republic is full of so many things for players to explore, and completing quests is not only an efficient way to level up and improve their character, but they're also fun and engaging. Alongside the Flashpoints and Operations (The Old Republic's version of dungeons and raids), gamers can check out planets like Voss, Hoth, Corellia, and Tatooine, with plenty of adventuring to be found along the way.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is available on PC.